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Title: Luntz Polling: Americans Are More Willing to Vote for Socialists
Source:
VDare
URL Source: http://www.vdare.com/posts/luntz-po ... willing-to-vote-for-socialists
Published: Oct 19, 2015
Author: Brenda Walker
Post Date: 2015-10-19 14:38:07 by nativist nationalist
Keywords: None
Views: 2073
Comments: 35
It’s interesting to see that Americans have become more open to socialism — pollster Frank Luntz found that nearly half of citizens would consider voting for a socialist candidate. Luntz thinks that outspoken socialist Bernie Sanders has charmed the voters with his persuasiveness and that accounts for much of the change, along with convenient political redefinitions. However, there’s a longer history of leftism being treated kindly by the press. The crimes of the left have never been presented by the media as a major evil: Hitler gets the monster treatment, while his mass-murder equals Mao and Stalin get a pass. In addition, capitalism has not been working very well for average Americans in recent years. Real wages have remained stagnant since the seventies, and the middle class continues to shrink. In the minds of many people, capitalism means the global economy forced upon us by the elites, in the form of immigration and outsourcing over decades that has been entirely negative for average Americans: jobs that couldn’t be sent overseas have been given to inexpensive immigrant workers. Meanwhile, the rich have done very well under the globalization they promoted. Frank Luntz discussed his poll findings with Tucker Carlson on Fox News Saturday. CARLSON: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he’s a democratic socialist. What do voters think? That used to be a really scary word — is it still? Pollster Frank Luntz spoke with a lot of people about this issue and he’s got the very latest from his research on it. Great to see you, Frank. LUNTZ: Thank you and what we found is that 47 percent of Americans now would consider — 46 percent — would consider voting for a socialist. It is no longer this demonized word and Bernie Sanders has completely changed it. You got the numbers there from June and I believe that those numbers have even increased. So we ask Democrats in our focus group we did a few days ago which is preferable socialism or capitalism and to my shock, more of them preferred socialism — that’s how much the Democratic Party’s changed. CARLSON: It just says a lot, I mean socialists, in the name of socialism, 80 million people were murdered last century. It wasn’t that long ago, we both remember, we’re not that old. LUNTZ: But that’s not the socialism they’re speaking of. So they’ll make the argument that having a police force is socialist because we’re paying for the common good and having a military is socialist, so they’re redefining what the terminology means, and they also believe that capitalism has failed because of this income inequality of CEOs making many millions of dollars and people still working at minimum wage. CARLSON: Well of course socialism has always been about arming the powerful; it’s always a species of fascism. It doesn’t surprise me there are more guns for the government LUNTZ: You keep going back 50 years, a hundred years — for them it’s what’s wrong with society today. And what i find interesting, and I’ve said to conservatives stop calling it crony capitalism because they don’t necessarily hear the word crony and it makes them think more negative of the word capitalism. The fact is to people capitalism is about profit and about Wall Street, rather than about opportunity and free markets, It’s far better to talk about economic freedom or financial freedom than it is capitalism. Tucker, our definitions are changing in politics because of this campaign. Donald Trump is having an impact, Bernie Sanders is having an impact and what we think in November of 2016 can be very different than October 2015 CARLSON: I completely agree with you. Let’s just give the party breakdown here. This is a question: would you be willing to vote for a socialist. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats say yes, 49 percent of independents — that’s really striking — and 26 percent of Republicans. What is going on? LUNTZ: What happened to Republicans? Yes it’s because capitalism in capitalism has been so demonized and so ripped apart by pundits in the media and even by candidates that socialism is no longer that horrible concept. CARLSON: A lot of this has gotta be a hangover from the 2008 financial crisis and its gotta be LUNTZ: And the fact that nobody went to jail which both Republicans and Democrats agree on that some of those people who perpetrated those financial disasters should have been held accountable and Tucker, without accountability, without personal responsibility, capitalism will continue to fall and socialism will continue to rise. It’s frightening but it’s true. CARLSON: It’s sort of interesting, but when Martha Stewart goes to jail for financial crimes but nobody goes after 2008 it does sort of raise questions. Poster Comment: Surprising for VDare, they seem to have left out that much of the increased receptivity to socialism is imported. The 1/10th of 1% are the ones importing this socialism, if it comes they need to reap what they've sown.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#1. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
(Edited)
lol... of course they are. Just look how many so called "conservatives" post here, and hate the rich, love drugs and remain silent towards social service type government growth.
I am one of those people to whom you refer. I do not claim to be a "conservative". Philosophically, I claim to be a Catholic. Catholics are very traditionalist on matters of family and personal sexual morality, and very communitarian on matters of economics. No party represents us well, so we split between the two parties. To be clear, Catholics do not hate the rich. We just see that the rich need to be prevented from accumulating excessive wealth and power to the detriment of everybody else. Catholics don't love drugs. We do love drug addicts, and even the drug peddlers, in the sense that we want them to break their addictions and stop peddling drugs. "Saving" people by destroying their lives through draconian laws is not the Catholic way. Social service type government growth is the sort of government growth that Catholics want to see, if the growth addresses a real need.
I am against full socialism as I am against full capitalism. Most of the system so called conservatives are defending is a mixed economic model. The economy works like an old fashioned corroborator - depending on the task the fuel air mixture is adjusted. Same with the economy - sometimes govt spending needs to be increased and safety nets applied and other times the govt should be hands off.
We do need government in any system. If you are heavy of the social net side then it just doesn't work, at all. I don't agree you need government supported social net. Its to cumbersome for government to deal with. Its best left to churches and charities. But the one thing progressives killed which I do believe needs to be allowed is mental institutions which have basically been outlawed. They also need to be paid for by the people because no family can take care of such a burden. We also don't temp unemployment insurance because it doesn't work. People will not find a job until the government benefits run out and they also do not save up for bad economic times. Spend like their will never be hard times! Sign of a idiot! The middle class is where government should focus its policies. Do not worry about the rich and poor because they live in their own world. Rich focus on the dollar and the poor just will not sacrifice in the right areas. Please do not respond that some have fallen on hard times for no luck of their own. These people can be helped through churches and charities. They also do not amount to drop in the river. Since the war poverty the poor have not seen any improvement and now are a permanent underclass. The rich run the government and fight for slices of the pie. People need to get it stuck in their heads. If government gets out of the way many things will solve themselves. You can't fix everything. Government can't hardly fix anything. Government is there to give people legal means of dealing with other people when nothing else has worked. Government also is there to protect the interest of the people from foreign places. When people talk about social net just remember almost every hard time can be traced right back to government interference into the daily lives of the people. Thats one of the major reasons government should be as small as possible!
Well, we fundamentally disagree on the nature of government and the economy. And neither of us is going to budge. You are hostile to the IDEA of government as a means of wealth redistribution for poverty relief and economic improvement. You reject it on a moral basis. And I reject the rejection of it also on a moral basis. Such is the impasse of America and the Western world. It is not resolvable. There's no place to meet in the middle because there's no will to do it, at all. You're certain you're right, and I know I am. Which means a wall and a trench line. But because I really am right, over time things drift in my direction. Your side loses and loses and loses, sort of like the Indians. Social security and unemployment insurance, universal public education and now, universal health insurance, are here to stay. The programs would be better than they are if people on the conservative right lent a hand to organize them better, make them more sensible, but you won't. You're still resisting the CONCEPT of Social Security, on principle. Earlier today we talked about how blacks don't get over it. But blacks in America were substiantially segregated by law until 1964, and by force until about 1969. Their oppression is within living memory. You think they should get over that. By contrast, your side lost the Social Security and Unemployment Insurance debate in 1932. That is only within living memory of the very old. You expect the Blacks to forget the oppression they directly experienced as a child, but you're still fighting Social Security and Unemployment Benefits, things that have been established in concrete for nearly a century. Who is it, exactly, that won't get past the past? Truth is, neither of us is going to get past the past. Truth also is that the Pope was always right about contraception, but the white West didn't listen. Sex without consequences was too great a lure. But there ARE consequences. The consequences are: no babies. Which means that America will certainly be Latino in 100 years, and Europe will be Arab. The Latinos are not going abolish Social Security or Unemployment Benefits, or Universal Health Insurance or Universal Public Education. They will enhance these programs because they virtually all benefited from them, and because social welfare is a Catholic virtue in any event. What that all means, net net, is that with the drift of time, the things I believe have been winning since the turn of the 20th Century, and look set to continue to advance and win in the 21st Century. But everything you believe in is falling to dust. It's too bad that we can't come to a meeting of the minds.
#11. To: Vicomte13, Justified (#10)
Earlier today we talked about how blacks don't get over it. But blacks in America were substiantially segregated by law until 1964, and by force until about 1969. Their oppression is within living memory. You think they should get over that. You're not right on this one. Justified is. You do speak of winning though. Satan is the runner of this system. Remember when he promised it all to Jesus. So things are getting worse and worse. We are racing towards the mark of the Beast and Armageddon. You say your side is winning. Satan is supposed to be winning in the end. Just saying. No I'm not saying you are satan. Not even close. I'm just saying you are mistaken and have your blinders on because you "are always right".
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestAmericans Are More Willing to Vote for Socialists
#3. To: GrandIsland (#1)
Just look how many so called "conservatives" post here, and hate the rich, love drugs and remain silent towards social service type government growth.
#4. To: Vicomte13, GrandIsland, Justified, A Pole (#3)
#7. To: Pericles, Vicomte13, GrandIsland, A Pole (#4)
#10. To: Justified (#7)
Replies to Comment # 10. But because I really am right, over time things drift in my direction. Your side loses and loses and loses, sort of like the Indians. Social security and unemployment insurance, universal public education and now, universal health insurance, are here to stay. The programs would be better than they are if people on the conservative right lent a hand to organize them better, make them more sensible, but you won't. You're still resisting the CONCEPT of Social Security, on principle.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
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